Breaking the chain

I was headed to work. Coming around a corner under the road bridge at St Peters there was a metallic noise followed by the sound of my chain unspooling from the cogs. I thought, oh no. So I stopped, looked down and saw my chain sitting on the ground. A quick investigation showed that one of the links had become sprayed apart, and that the outside link had bent through about 45 degrees. The place where it bent was on one of my two quick release link pieces. It probably was the one I had used to break the chain then I had shortened it last time. At that time I did not know about these SRAM quick release links and I probably had stuffed it. A bit of bending later, and using the link breaker I carry in my toolkit, I put the chain together.

I was relatively happy with the repair, so I headed off again. But there was a sound that should not be there. A quick inspection showed that I had not threaded the chain around the central pivot cog. So I had to break it again. This time I used a normal link. But in my haste, I was running late for work as it was, I actually broke one of the links. I have never done this before. The chain was still usable, but I decided it was not wise to ride to work with the broken link. So I rode home and caught the bus.

In the evening I got my bit of spare chain and replaced the broken link and the bent SRAM quick release link. As I did not have enough chain I had to replace two sections of the chain. I also went online and learned how to break the SRAM quick release link. It did not work the way I thought it would. It is quite easy. As the chain has already done 5,000 km, I will order another one. I really should have two and be rotating them to make the chain wheel and cluster set last longer.

Added 2010-03-27: well, putting the old bit of chain back on caused the stiff link problem to reoccur.